His Confession
by omelette du fromage
Summary: Two people are brought together by one horrific fact. Hermione Granger thinks she knows the truth about Draco Malfoy, but how will she handle the reality of his life? Can the past be erased by just one act? A short story.


She had been watching him lately... ever since the rise of the Dark Lord, she watched his every move. He seemed nervous, twitching and jumping at every sound, wincing at every owl.

One morning in late November, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle were all laughing and Draco cast his steely eyes in the trio's direction. He smirked at Hermione, the same smirk that clearly said she and her two friends were being made fun of. The mail was beginning to arrive, and Draco's attention was diverted to a sleek eagle owl that had landed in front of him. He read the letter and his face dropped. To his left and right, Crabbe and Goyle were thrilled with their mail, but Draco looked positively appalled.

"What's got him?" Harry nudged Hermione's arm and nodded in Draco's direction.

"Who knows what ever goes on in his head," Ron replied, and continued on his bacon.

Draco and his goons missed every lesson and every meal for the next few days; the students were told by other Slytherins that they had to go home to deal with "family business." But the looks on their faces said otherwise.

Hermione was leaving the library, her arms filled with books, and as she rounded a corner she hit something hard and flew backwards. She looked up to see what she had collided with only to see the blonde boy was back in school.

"Well? Aren't you going to insult me? You could help with these books you know."

She stood up and looked into the eyes of Draco Malfoy, and saw that they were cold and empty. He could only shake his head at her and as Hermione watched his eyes fill with tears, he suddenly looked afraid and ran out of the corridor and down the grand staircase, clutching his left arm. Hermione was filled with curiosity and abandoned the fallen books to follow Draco.

She had to run harder than she was ever forced to before so as not to lose him. She saw him collapse on the shore of the lake and roll up his sleeve. Hermione snuck up behind him and had to fight a gasp. She knew what was coming, but the sight of it still gave her a shock. She heard Draco's sobs of anguish and couldn't help but feel angered.

"What's wrong? I thought that's what you've always wanted."

The Slytherin boy stood up to face her, and her heart broke at the sight of his tear streaked face.

"Hermione, I've said some horrible things before, but I never, ever wanted this."

Draco thrust his arm towards her and the Dark Mark shone a deep inky black. She fought back tears; she was too close to it for comfort, as though it sensed her muggle blood and any minute Lord Voldemort himself would appear. Suddenly Draco burst into new tears as his face screwed up in a look that could only mean pain. He sunk to the ground, grasping his arm and rocking himself back and forth.

Hermione did the only thing she knew to do: she sat down next to the distraught boy and gave him a hug. He stiffened in her arms, but slowly relaxed into her embrace as she rocked him and cooed that it would be alright...that everything would be alright. Draco cried harder into her shoulder, gripping onto her robes and letting her soothe him.

"He's...calling..," he managed to force out after a while. At Hermione's look of shock and horror he continued, "He doesn't expect his younger followers to come when he calls, as we can't apparate yet...but I still feel the burning, the stabbing sensation." She continued to rock the boy and tried to calm him further. He would not be pacified.

"I killed them Hermione...Father told Voldemort I was ready... he made me do it… told me he would kill me himself if I didn't..." Hermione just rocked Draco, hoping he wouldn't notice her own tears. "Hermione, I killed them," he began again. "A whole family of muggles... a husband.. a wife.. two kids... had to prove I could and would use all three unforgivable curses...tortured the kids...used Imperius on the mom so the older Death Eaters could..." he sobbed and Hermione knew what was coming." so they could rape her," he whispered. "Then I killed them. Did all of that in front of the husband before I killed him too."

Hermione openly sobbed as Draco finally ended his tale of initiation. "Then he gave me this..," he sobbed as he showed her his mark again. "And now I'm his servant... oh Hermione I didn't want to, please believe me, I hated it, I have nightmares about it, I can't sleep without remembering, can't eat without wanting to vomit at the thought, I can't stand myself Hermione..."

Hermione rocked him, cradled him in her arms. She kissed Draco's forehead repeatedly as her tears fell on his robes. "Hermione don't leave me, please..," he pleaded with her. She shook her head, "I promise, I'll stay... I'll help you out of this Draco, I will, I'll find a way."

Hours passed, night fell, and still she cradled Draco by the lake. No words were exchanged beyond Draco's repeated apologies. "Oh Hermione...I'm so sorry... so sorry.. was never thinking... was just..." She shushed him, told him it was ok, that she forgave him, but he continued apologizing. He finally stopped crying and looked up at her after a while. "I don't want to be alone...," he whispered. Hermione understood.

They both stood up after several minutes, and she followed him back to his house common room. Everyone was in bed when they snuck into his dorm. She turned away as Draco changed and climbed into bed. She followed suit and held him in her arms, stroking his silver blonde hair and lightly sang him to sleep. She stayed awake until the early hours of the morning, when sleep took over her body and she dozed off with Draco in her arms.

They were rarely apart after that night.


End file.
